In certain inks, colorants that reflect light outside of the visible spectrum can be useful for some applications. For example, dyes that exhibit absorption in the near-infrared range 700 to 1000 nm can be useful in a variety of fields, including security printing, print authentication, counterfeit assessment, RFID tags, etc. Many of technologies utilizing near IR materials require that these materials be dissolved in organic solvents, water, and/or aqueous or organic solvent blends. Some applications, such as thermal ink-jet printing, require that the near infrared absorbing material be kept in aqueous solution for long periods of time. Near IR dyes should also be stable in aqueous solvent blends for a long time without undergoing any kind of chemical change. Any degradation or changes to its physical/chemical nature can destroy the conjugation and thus lose the near-IR absorption. Such changes can adversely affect the desired property (absorption in the near IR wavelength range) and can destroy the purpose for which the material was added. For example, near IR dyes of the cyanine dye class are soluble in water but are chemically unstable in aqueous solutions over long time at wide pH ranges, and are therefore not suitable for many ink-jet applications. Thus, there is need for chemically stable and water soluble near IR absorbing dyes.